‘Stand up against development’

With reference to Chris van der Merwe’s letter: ”Help to rebuild skatepark” (Bolander, August 21), I wish to comment, in my personal capacity, with regards to your plea for money to rebuild the skatepark and the expanding plans.

I am a resident at the Vonke Flats of the Helderberg Society for the Aged (HSFA), which is across the road from the skatepark.

The retirement area consists of several and various accommodation homes, i.e. Vonke, Mount View, Swannack, Social Care Support and Bowden Park.

These homes are there for the elderly – the frail, sick and the very old. People who deserve rest and a peaceful environment.

Every day after school and especially weekends we the elderly and other residents have to endure the noise of the skateboards and the loud and unbearable boom – boom of music until the late hours of the night.

During competition time the loud speakers, announcement voices, and so on, becomes even more noisy and disturbing.

In the letter you state that you want to add more containers, a clubhouse, a skimboarding pool, beach volleyball space and a picnic area, and provide advertising boards.

Have you considered the impact it will have on this beautiful, somehow elderly people environment; nature, Lourensford Road traffic; noise and the overall disturbances?

The skatepark, in my opinion, does not belong in this residential area.

I call upon residents, the elderly and those who love the beautiful environment surrounding the Lourens river, to stand up and stop you from changing this area into a “wild western” place.

I trust and hope that the City Council and the ward councillor responsible for the approval of your plans will take note and stop the planned expansion and development before it is too late.

I also request that you show compassion and some regard towards the elderly – especially those who have not much longer to live.

The noise “travels” and reaches each and every one of us.

It is now in the hands of those who care for the environment and respect the human rights and constitutional rights of the elderly.

Chris van der Merwe, Inspired2Become youth development through sport

We most definitely take note of the elderly and have the utmost respect for them.

We do realise that the residents of Vonke Park are sensitive to noise that can travel and I continuously ask the park manager, Godfrey Wenn, not to play loud music in the park.

The park was built to keep young people busy and away from negative activities.

Our rules and principles are there to change the youth for the better and we believe that they need to be shown an alternative to what wrong influences deem as appealing (you are welcome to find out more on our website: www.inspired2become.org).

Once a year, at the end of each year, we have an Inspired2Become competition, where we do need to commentate on the skaters competing.

The other competition that was held was done by another organisation earlier this year – this competition is part of an international competition that will be held in Kimberley later this year.

The park is only open until before dark, and no night skating is allowed unless supervised/organised.

Regarding the noise of the skateboards: the only way to stop the skateboards from making any noise is to ask the children to stop skating and to stop practising their sport.

The main reason for extending the skatepark is to provide space for family and friends to relax while the children are enjoying themselves.

If you feel that adding a volleyball and skimboarding area will increase the noise levels, we can talk about this further in person, and maybe reconsider.

We really want to be an asset to the community and not a burden and we please want you to feel free to let us know, at any time, when the residents are unhappy with the noise levels.

Steve Jones, Helderberg

I am very concerned about the huge number of single use plastic bags that are irresponsibly supplied by supermarkets.

Other than the community of Greyton and the Spar in Hout Bay, there seem to be no other retail outlets locally that do not sell disposable plastic bags.

Thousands of bags end up in our rivers and in the sea, they litter the countryside, and are ingested by sea animals and birds.

It defies logic. We are ruining our environment. The vast Pacific “Garbage Patch”, double the size of Texas, is a good example of what happens when the use of plastic is not controlled.

I would like to see super-markets in the Helderberg area follow Greyton’s lead, and I would be interested to know from Bolander readers how shops might be encouraged to stop offering plastic bags. Perhaps a Spar, Checkers or Pick * Pay manager out there is prepared to set an example?

In the meantime, I appeal to people to buy re-usable bags or use cardboard boxes which are usually available from shelf packers.

Len Walker, Somerset West

There is only one man who is behind the Hawks order for Pravin Gordhan to report to them: President Jacob Zuma himself, who virtually controls the Hawks ,and by pure coincidence appears to control SAA as well,which seems to be the major bone of contention between himself and Gordhan.

For some time now there has been no love lost between the two of them, and it would appear Zuma is determined to have Gordhan removed and replaced by Des van Rooyen,”the best qualified Minister of Finance”.Get ready South Africa for another collapse of the Rand.

The Bolander (formerly the Helderberg Sun) was established in 1996 and renamed Bolander in 2007. This long established popular community title includes the key shopping centres Somerset Mall and Waterstone Mall within its distribution area.